The greatest Herbert Wigwe Tribute – A must read

๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐“๐ซ๐ข๐›๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ƒ๐ซ. ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐›๐ž๐ซ๐ญ ๐–๐ข๐ ๐ฐ๐ž (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”-๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’): โ€˜๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐€๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐‚๐ซ๐ฒโ€™ ....by Rasheed Otun

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Herbert Wigwe

The Night of Tributes for Herbert Wigwe reminds me of the title of a popular Telemundo series, ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘…๐‘–๐‘โ„Ž ๐ด๐‘™๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐ถ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ. Never in the history of Nigeria have we witnessed such open tears from such richly blessed Nigerians as we watched during the Night of Tributes for Dr. Wigwe. The world witnessed for the first time the public tears of an emir. Imagine a former emir and a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the richest Nigerian barely able to hold their tears on the podium while the world is watching. It is difficult to watch without shedding tears as each person whose life has been touched by Dr. Wigwe attests to his outstanding humane qualities. It is important to also point out some appalling tales by moonlight written and shared on some social media by backstabbing nonentities who cannot be entrusted with ordinary meat in their mamas’ pots, let alone be trusted with the entire fortune of a friend, trying to link the success of a great detribalized mind to their individual and collective failure. Do you know my biggest takeaway from the highly emotional tributes in honor of the late Dr. Herbert Wigwe? Only poor people are tribalists! If you are a tribalist, it means you are poor. In fact, you are not just poor financially; you are emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually poor!!! Read what the former Emir says about Dr. Wigwe.

โ€œ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐˜„๐—ผ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ผ, ๐—œ ๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐—บ๐˜† ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—œ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜†.”
โ€œ๐—œ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฑ, ‘๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜, ๐—œ ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—œ ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐—œ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜†, ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป.โ€

While some rabble-rousing hoi pollois are busy spreading rumours and unconfirmed stories of what they donโ€™t know about the personal and business exploits of the late Dr. Wigwe, his associates, the crรจme de la crรจme of Nigeriaโ€™s household names, are busy celebrating an outstanding life spent in the service of humanity without recourse to tribal sentiments. A couple days before the Night of Tributes, precisely on 4th March, his professional colleagues at Access Bank Plc, the banking industry in Nigeria, and professional friends had organised “Celebrating Professional Excellence in honour of Dr. Herbert Wigwe. The four-hour event was divided into six segments, and speakers were accordingly grouped: The Young Herbert; Herbert the Banker; Herbert the Entrepreneur; Herbert the CEO; Herbert the Builder; and Herbert the Ambassador. A look at the arrays of the super-rich, highly educated, brilliant brains, superbly influential, internationally renowned, politically successful, and โ€˜wigwelyโ€™ blessed elites who graced the podium at both events is a reflection of the sense of camaraderie, civility, integrity, professionalism, and humanism of Dr. Wigwe. Among other dignitaries at the heart-wrenching events are the current Vice-President of Nigeria Kashim Shettima, Professor Yemi Oshinbajo, immediate past Vice President of Nigeria; Alh. Aliko Dangote, Gov. Dapo Abiodun, Abia State Gov. Alex Otti, Gov. Sanwon-Olu, Wale Edun, Yemi Cardoso, Akinwunmi Adesina, Segun Agbaje (CEO of GT Holdco); Mr. Abubakar Jimoh, Mrs. Mfon Usoro, Paul Usoro, Cathy Echeazor; and Dolapo Ogundimu, Ronke Kuye, Gbenga Oyebode and his wife, Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, Tony Elumelu, and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, friends and family members of Dr. Wigwe.

It was Anthony J. Dโ€™Angelo who said, โ€œ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐˜€, ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€.โ€ Another major takeaway from the Night of Tributes for Dr. Wigwe is the fact that he treasured his relationships. The affirmation is seen in the outpouring of emotions, affection, and support from his professional, political, business, personal, family, and international relationships. Starting with Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, former governor of Gombe, a northerner and a Muslim to Tunji, his driver for more than twenty years; Efoli Ekot and Sola Faleye, his personal assistants to Tochi Wigwe, his daughter. While some morbid zones of paupers are busy trying to link the late Wigwe to the current dire situation of the country, his collegiate of savants are shedding tears because of the effects of his absence on the nationโ€™s economy. โ€œ๐—œ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜.โ€ Guess who said that? No, the statement didnโ€™t come from one of ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘š tribal bigots. It came out of the mouth of the richest man in Nigeria and, most likely, the richest man in Africa. And thatโ€™s not all! While only a candlelight procession may mark the demise of some of the rumour-mongers into oblivion, great men are planning to immortalize Dr. Wigwe. Hear, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

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โ€œ๐—ง๐—ผ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ, ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฒ, ๐—œ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ท๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ; ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ‘๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ช๐—ถ๐—ด๐˜„๐—ฒ.โ€

The rich are hardly tribalists. In fact, you can never be rich as a tribalist. You can only spread the poverty of tribalism among your kind. Rich minds are too sophisticated for tribalism. Tribal sentiment is never a consideration in their relationships or in their plans to extend the frontiers of relationships. Tribalism is detrimental to progressive and capitalist thinking. Tribalism is the cultural element of shortsighted fools. Rich minds must connect, integrate, and interact with others from different walks of life to achieve their ambitions, while poor minds limit their circle to their cocoons. Pull-Him-Down syndrome is the cynical-psycho-pathological jealous disease in the biological makeup and medulla oblongata of poor minds. The poor donโ€™t want any poor to get out of the circle of poverty. For the rich, there is no barrier. No one is dispensable. To the poor, no one is indispensable, especially when you are not from their tribe of poverty-stricken bigots. And the rich know how to toy with the tribal mentality of the poor. Oh yes, especially during the electioneering period. I know your tribal blood will rise if I tell you that the Lagos State government has promised to name somewhere on Lagos Island in honor of Dr. Herbert Wigwe. Ah, I know what you are thinking: โ€œ๐ถโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘ข, ๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘œ,โ€ ๐ธ๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘๐‘’๐‘’ 27! Tribalists! Chinedu is a Lagos boy. For your information, Dr. Herbert Wigwe was born in Lagos. The governor of Lagos, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, states.

โ€œ๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ท๐—ผ๐˜†๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ฒ.โ€
โ€œ๐—›๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜€ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ, ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ, ๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—œ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—˜๐—ธ๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜†, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—บ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—บ ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜‚๐˜€.
โ€œ๐—œ๐—ณ ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ต, ๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜€ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜€ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ.โ€

The Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca states, โ€œ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด, ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด.โ€ Dr. Herbert Wigwe may have stepped out of this earthly life, but his circle of great minds will forever keep his flag flying high as a beacon of hope for generations yet unborn. The circle of poverty-stricken morons can keep on fanning the ember of tribalism and pass on the torch to those who have decided to remain poor. Only poor people spend time fanning the embers of tribal sentiments, bigotry, and rumour-mongering. ๐ท๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘ฆ๐‘Ž๐‘ a trustworthy man while your family cannot entrust you with the key to your dadโ€™s wardrobe. Instead of going online to busy yourself reading and researching the unique qualities of great achievers like Dr. Herbert Wigwe, you are busily committed to building your myopic circle of poor tribal warlords. Imagine what Dr. Herbert Wigwe was committed to achieving, as stated by his close pal, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede:

โ€œ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น๐—น ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น.โ€

Lest I forget, thank you, Darey Art Alade (a graduate of my alma mater, the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos), for the rendition of Frank Sinatraโ€™s โ€˜โ€™I did it my wayโ€™โ€™, one of Herbertโ€™s favorite songs. It is well!

Dr. Rasheed Otun,
University of Louisville,
Louisville, Kentucky, USA

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